Seminar
by YellowRocksMySocks
Summary: The Avengers are asked by the New York state government to give a series of seminars to public schools. Naturally, Beth's high school is the first on the list, and she is given another reason to hate the public education system. Set after Torture- an entire chunk of the plot will make zero sense if you don't read it, and this also kinda turned into a sequel.
1. Poor Frosted Flakes

"Miss Beth. The Avengers and Nick Fury request your presence in the kitchen." Jarvis announced. I regrettably put my book down and walked downstairs. It was silent. _Okay, THAT'S not normal..._

I turned the corner to find them all waiting expectantly at the table, with Fury at the head. I stopped in my tracks.

"Am I in trouble?" I asked, nervously clasping my hands. Because if this is about me making all those charges on the S.H.I.E.L.D. credit card-" I begin, avoiding their gazes.

"You're not in trouble Beth...wait WHAT?" Nick spoke, raising a menacing eyebrow.

"Hahanothingwe'regoodhow'syourdaybeen?"I hurriedly let out, shifting my weight back and forth as innocently as possible.

Fury sighed. "Why don't you have a seat?" He suggested. I grabbed a bottle of juice I and a stool from the bar and situated myself at the other end of the table, extremely curious and confused about what was going on.

"The state government wants the Avengers to go around to the different high schools in the city and teach basic survival skills and give 'inspiration' to the students." He said. "Your basic 'no child left behind/shaping the next generation' bullcrap. Do you accept?" He asked, looking around at everyone.

Tony and Clint wrinkled their noses. I snickered. "I really don't want to..." Tony said.

"C'mon guys! This could be good!" Bruce said. "For once, the government _isn't _trying to kill us, or exile us, or prevent us from helping people. They actually want _our _help. I say we take advantage of this rare opportunity..."

Thor nodded. "I agree with Banner."

"So do I." Steve chimed in.

"I think so too. So you two need to quit being immature." Natasha said, and ended the conversation.

"Perfect." Nick commented. He pulled out a tablet thingy and swiped a few times. He turned it around for us to see. "Here is a list of the schools you're scheduled for so far. The first is Millennium High School." He explained.

I dropped my bottle of juice, my heart stopping. The splatter was the only sound in the room as they all looked at me.

"Is there a problem?" Fury asked.

My mouth went dry, and I lost the ability to speak.

BREAK

"You guys can't go to my school!" I exclaimed, pacing back and forth in front of the TV. "Absolutely not!" I said, waving my hands. Steve had called an "emergency family meeting" after I spilled my juice in shock. Fury had already left, avoiding my explosion.

"You heard what Nick said, Beth. The affairs are already in order." Steve said, trying to calm me down. "I'm sorry. It won't be so bad..."

"IT WON'T BE SO BAD?!" I shrieked, whipping around to face everyone. They all flinched, except for Natasha. "I can't handle 24-7 interaction with you! Having my family at my school for a week giving 'inspirational speeches' and teaching 'survival skills' is literally straight out of a nightmare! Call it off. Skip Millennium High. ANYTHING but follow through with this!" I shouted.

"Look, Beth. We can't get out of it. We are scheduled starting this coming Monday. There's no changing that." Bruce said, and with that the conversation was over. My family left the room, ignoring my piercing glare.

BREAK

I shot another arrow into the target, breathing heavily and hitting the bulls eye. I grabbed three arrows out of the quiver on my back and fired them one after the other at a new target, hitting the bulls eye with each.

I set the bow down and took off the quiver. I decided some good old-fashioned kick boxing would help subside my rage.

I was positively fuming. _How could they do this to me?! _I thought as I slammed the punching bag with attack after attack, kicking and punching and sweating. _Do they not understand how weird, awkward, and horrible this is going to be? _

After another half hour, Clint walked into the gym, wrapping his hands in tape so he could kick box. He opened his mouth to say something, but didn't when I immediately grabbed my gym bag and left, brushing past and ignoring him completely.

BREAK

I angrily chewed my cereal that Monday morning, crunching my Frosted Flakes as if it was their flaky goodness that had betrayed me instead of my family. You could say I still hadn't gotten over it yet. I just kept on imaging all of these horrible scenarios. What if they told embarrassing stories about me? Or tried to get me to come and talk about inspirational crapola?

"Good morning, Beth!" Thor said cheerfully as he strode into the kitchen. I ignored him too and continued to take my anger out on my breakfast.

"I see you are still vexed. I shall leave you be." Thor spoke after a moment. He grabbed his mug of coffee and left the kitchen. I pretended I didn't hear the hurt in his voice or saw the slump in his usually proud shoulders.

BREAK

I was absentmindedly chewing the end of my pen in Homeroom as I went over some History notes for my test next period. Other students were talking or tapping away on their phones, but I was in such a bad mood that I didn't speak to anyone. I was trying so hard to not think about the assembly later on today that I was actually studying. The familiar intro music to our school's newscast chimed over the loudspeaker, so I set my notes down as we turned our heads to the TV.

"Good morning Millennium High. I'm Lindsey Franco." the girl said with her chipper newscaster voice. "I have some exciting news. Every day this week, we will have an afternoon assembly in the Performing Arts Center."

Everybody around me groaned, and I gripped my desk, bracing myself for the announcement to come. My heart began beating fast. _No. No. No. No. NO._

"New York City's very own team of crime fighters-The Avengers- will be teaching the student body basic self-defense and survival skills, along with speaking and visual presentations. We are the first school to be a part of this program, thanks to junior Beth Jordan, who many of you know as the girl who gets to live with the Avengers. Report to the PAC at 1:00 each day this week. In other news..." she announced, but the rest of her words were lost as everybody turned around to look at me.

My eyes were wide, staring at the tile floor. I didn't dare meet any of the other's gazes. I felt my face flush and my hands were sweaty gripping the desk. The room was silent except for Lindsey signing off.

The bell rang, and I ran out of the room, never more relieved than that moment to hear its annoying sound.


	2. Good Old PB&J

**Sorry about the wait! Here is chapter 2! Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! **

1:00 came waaayyyyyyy too soon. And all day, I had been getting weird looks. From _everyone._ In class, in the hallways, in lunch. I hated every minute.

I was currently being shoved along into the PAC. I looked around; it seemed like the entire school was in here. _Jeez. _I decided to sit in the very back corner and to shrink as far down into my seat as possible. The lights dimmed and came back up, signaling that the presentation was about to begin. I was completely afraid of what was about to unfold.

_Let's get this over with..._I thought, shrugging deeper into my sweater and closing my eyes as the lights dimmed for good.

Seconds later I was nearly startled out of my seat as the entire assembly room erupted in screams. I rolled my eyes. I peered over some jumping students heads to see my family walk out on stage, dressed casually in workout gear. They smiled and waved to the crowd before sitting in some lined up chairs, and I gagged a little.

Tony walked up to the podium and tapped on the microphone. "Hello everyone!" He greeted, making the crowd scream even louder, if that was even possible. Tony held up his hand, and the students began quieting down. Just as it was about to be silent, some random girl shrieked "I LOVE YOU TONY!" Much to everyone's amusement.

I however, was skeeved out that a girl around my age would scream at my uncle like that. Tony paid no attention (I figured he was used to girls screaming their adoration for him) and simply waited until it was completely quiet.

"We are very excited to be here. You are the next generation of leaders for the world. We are here this week to train the leader inside each and every one of you. Today, we will start with some basic self-defense. You can never be too prepared to protect yourself from harm. Captain Rogers will demonstrate some basic techniques. Is Beth in the audience? We would like you to help demonstrate." Tony asked, looking around.

My mind snapped in two and my eye started twitching. _This isn't real. I'm just having a really vivid nightmare..._I thought to myself as it became hard for me to breathe. I pinched my arm and realized that I was indeed awake, much to my dismay.

"Beth? Are you out there?" He asked again. Suddenly, spotlight shone on me. I was mortified and became completely still, my eyes so wide that they were about to pop out of my skull. I also had never specifically hated the lighting department until now.

"Ah, there she is." Tony said cheerfully. I snuck a sideways glance and saw that the exits were too far away to escape, so I slowly got out of my seat and began walking down the steps to the stage, keeping my eyes straight ahead and trying to ignore the whispers from the audience. After an eternity I reached the stage.

"Beth. Could you please demonstrate the basic kick sequence for escaping an attacker?" Tony asked. I nodded, glaring at him away from the audience. He didn't react, fully in Tony-Stark-billionaire-presentation-mode. Steve was already standing at the ready. I took off my sweater, and tossed it to the side, leaving me in my tank top and shorts. Some guy hooted from the audience. I glared out at the crowd, completely embarrassed. He shut up and everybody laughed.

I walked up in front of Steve. He smiled a bit at me, but I remained emotionless and cracked my neck and knuckles. I tried to calm my racing heart with some deep breaths.

"This sequence is effective when your attacker comes at you from behind. You are to crouch and then swing your leg into the back of their knee in order to knock them down and make your escape. Beth and Captain Rogers will perform the sequence and then I will explain it in detail." Tony said.

I walked closer to Steve and then turned around, standing at the ready. We had practiced this sequence countless times among many others, so we didn't even have to speak. After what happened with Medicorp, the Avengers wanted me to be able to defend myself. I tensed up, ready to spring into action. Red hot rage and embarrassment filled my stomach. Steve grabbed my left arm. I somersaulted away from him and stood to turn around. I heard cheering. Steve was surprised at my change in plans but quickly came at me again, and I roundhouse kicked him in the chin before I really knew what I was doing. The crack of his jaw was loud enough to be heard by the audience.

Everybody gasped. I looked out into the audience again and was met with frightened stares instead of the laughter moments before. Steve looked at me dumbfounded as he rubbed the side of his face. I stood there for a second, in shock at the fact that I had just kicked my brother in the jaw in front of my whole school before walking through the red curtain and then backstage. My eyes filled with tears as the adrenaline wore off and I realized what I had done.

Tony's awkward "Right. That wasn't the sequence we had planned to show you. Black Widow, could you please demonstrate the correct sequence?" faded from my hearing as I found a back hallway behind the stage and cried.

* * *

I was completely shocked. Beth had actually kicked me in the face. And it _hurt_. I just stared at her and rubbed my jaw. She then walked offstage and Natasha was called up, and we finished demonstrating the rest of the sequences without a problem. But the entire time, my mind was reeling.

After the presentation was over. I decided to explore the school a bit and sort through my thoughts. After aimlessly walking around the hallways and waving and making small talk with the students, I found my way into the cafeteria. Some of the kids turned to look at me. A few smiled and waved. I nodded at them and found my way to an empty table. I looked around at the students. Some were obviously into sports, wearing their jerseys or tracksuits. I saw a few girls wearing matching tops and skirts. They each were carrying a bag that said they were on the dance team. _We sure didn't have those back in the day..._I thought with a small smile. _A lot has changed._

After a bit, my mind returned to the disastrous presentation. _Why we figured Beth would willingly come onstage and help us I'll never know...What were we thinking? _I wondered, and reached up and touched my chin. I jerked back when I felt a bruise. _Now I know not to underestimate Beth in a fight..._

A girl walked up to my table carrying a backpack and a brown bag lunch. "Is anybody sitting here?" she asked brightly and gestured to an empty chair across from me.

I shook my head. "No ma'am." I replied, and wondered why she would want to sit with me. _Didn't she have friends to sit with?_

"Thanks. So Captain America, how's the jaw?" she asked as she took out her food. "Beth gotcha pretty good, huh?" she joked and began munching on some potato chips.

I chuckled. "Yeah. It was definitely unexpected...I really don't know why we thought it was a good idea to have her come on stage and demonstrate self-defense. You should have seen her back at home. She was _furious_ that we had to come to her school." I explained, surprised at how easy it was to talk to this girl.

"I can imagine. That's like having your parents at school for a week. I get along great with mine, but I still couldn't handle the constant interaction." she agreed, and opened her soda. "My name's Olivia, by the way. Just curious, but why are you sitting by yourself?" she asked good-naturedly.

"Nice to meet you, Olivia. You can call me Steve if you want." I offered. "I wanted to collect my thoughts after being kicked in the face. You know, I knew that Beth was mad, but I never expected her to do _that._.." I said. "We've all fought with each other back at the Tower, like families do I suppose. However, it's never escalated to outright physical violence..."

It was Olivia's turn to chuckle. "I'm not one of Beth's close friends, but I've been in classes with her for a few years. She's not shy, but doesn't necessarily want to be the center of attention. Especially because of anything Avengers-related." she explained. "When everyone thought you guys died and she gave the eulogy for the whole city, EVERYONE treated her weirdly. It wasn't like only a few of her close friends knew what she was going through, it was the _entire_ school. Everybody would give her weird looks in the hallway, or constantly try to talk to her about it, or would tiptoe around her like she was made of glass or something. It was really hard for Beth. I bet she just didn't want that much attention on her again."

I nodded slowly, letting Olivia's words sink in. "To tell you the truth, I never considered that our disappearance affected her at school. I thought she was just embarrassed of us teaching her friends. Thanks for the insight, Olivia." I responded.

She smiled. "No problem. Want my sandwich?" she asked, and held out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a plastic baggie.

I shook my head. "No thank you, ma'am. That's your lunch." I refused.

She rolled her eyes. "You got kicked in the face today. Take my sandwich." she said and tossed it to me. I smiled and opened the bag. Just then, the bell rang.

Olivia gathered her trash and stuffed it into the lunch sack. "Gotta take a physics test..." she said as she grabbed her backpack and pushed in her chair. "Lunch was nice. Good luck with Beth, Steve. Just try to understand where she's coming from." Olivia said and walked away.

I looked down at the sandwich before taking a massive bite. It was a pretty good PB&J. _I guess some things never change._


	3. Spicy Mustard

**I am soooooooooooooooooooooo sorry that I haven't updated in so long! The end of school got really busy, and I had the most severe case of writer's block in the world! Hopefully summer will give me more time to write. I am planning on ending this story next chapter, so please review and send me ideas for new stories-y'all come up with great ones I would never have thought of! Love y'all!**

I was glad that I had an off period after lunch, because I couldn't have handled facing anybody. I was completely ashamed. I sat in that back hallway on the floor for a long time. After I was sure everybody had left the PAC-especially my family-I grabbed my backpack by my seat and walked out to the parking lot. Opening my door, I noticed some students standing by their cars and staring at me like I was going to go on a rampage and attack them or something. I tried to smile at them, but I think it came out more like a grimace because they quickly walked away.

I sighed as I slid into the driver's seat. _Just like last time..._

* * *

"So, are we ever going to talk about how Beth kicked Spangles in the face on our first day?" Tony asked the group while they rode home in the van. Taking on a more serious tone, the Avenger spoke again. "We really upset her, didn't we?"

Clint blew some air out of his nose. "Yep. Should we call the whole thing off?" he suggested. "I definitely care about Beth more than the government..."

Bruce barked a laugh. "Me too. But somehow, I think that they wouldn't care about her as much as 'the children of the future'." he responded. "I think we should continue with what we are doing, but no longer involve Beth and let her decide how she wants to proceed on her own. Even if it means she hates us a little while longer." he suggested.

Everyone murmured some form of an agreement. It was silent for a while, with the mechanical jostles of the moving van the only sounds.

"Beth doesn't hate us." Steve piped up suddenly, causing the gang to jump slightly-except for the Black Widow of course. "When I was wandering around the school today, I sat by myself in the cafeteria. A girl named Olivia came by and sat with me during her lunch period. She's an acquaintance of Beth's, and revealed to me that Beth wasn't really embarrassed about us doing the seminars. She was afraid of being the center of attention."

Natasha nudged Tony in the ribs ever so slightly. Tony nudged her back with an eye roll that Natasha rewarded with a smirk.

"You see, back when we were coming home from that mission and the world thought we were dead, Beth was suddenly thrown into the spotlight. Everybody at school treated her like a damaged freak. It was really hard for her. She just doesn't want to be the talk of the whole school." Steve finished.

The group was reasonably astonished and didn't speak for the remainder of the ride.

* * *

I got home, made myself a snack, and holed up in my room. I was afraid to venture out and accidentally interact with them. I just knew that they were going to be really angry with me. Who wouldn't be? I completely wrecked their presentation and made them look like idiots who couldn't control a teenager. I wanted to cry some more, but couldn't squeeze any tears out of my eyes, so I just dry sobbed for a while.

"Hey Jarvis?" I tentatively asked the AI.

"Yes, Miss Beth?" he replied.

"Can you warn me when they get home? So that I can hide?" I asked, rubbing my nose and eyes.

Jarvis sighed. I didn't think it was possible for him to, but then again, my life now was always filled with surprises. "Miss Beth. I will do as you wish, but I want to assure you that your family would rather you not avoid them. They love you very much."

"Not after what I did..." I said. "I kicked Steve in the face today during their presentation. I didn't mean to and it just happened so fast, but I basically ruined the program and made them look bad in front of my whole school..." I explained. "I wouldn't be surprised if they hated me..."

"I have watched over this tower long enough to conclude that the Avengers care deeply about you. People make mistakes. I'm sure they forgive you." Jarvis tried to convince me.

I wasn't hearing any of it. But I thanked Jarvis anyway.

* * *

I decided that I was hungry enough to sneak into the kitchen. I stealthily made my way down the stairs and was silently gliding across the floor in my fuzzy socks. My family hadn't me when they would be coming home, so I tried to grab sandwich stuff as fast as I could. Momentarily bathed in the warm glow of the fridge, I forgot about the incident of today and merely focused on making the perfect sandwich. I was digging through the condiments for the spicy mustard when the kitchen light flipped on. I froze, various sandwich fixings stuffed in my arms.

Nobody moved. I stepped back from the safe-haven of the appliance and turned to see my entire family. It was completely silent, neither side sure of what to do next. I accidentally made eye contact with Steve who was standing at the front of the group. His gaze was too kind after what I did to him. I promptly dropped the mustard and burst into guilty and embarrassed tears.

Next thing I knew, arms were around me and the rest of the sandwich supplies were taken from me and placed on the counter by unseen hands. I held on the mystery hugger for dear life. During a wracking sob, I breathed in the scent of their shirt. As silly as it sounds, the person somehow smelled like America and I immediately knew it was Steve. I held on to my big brother even tighter, repeating "I'm sorry!" over and over and over until I was sure I was red in the face.

"Shhhh. Shhhh, Beth. It's okay. It's okay." Steve said and kneeled down, his face level with mine. My sobs had quieted down to whimpers and sniffles. He grabbed my shoulders and squeezed. "I forgive you. We knew you weren't happy with us and we should not have called you onto the stage. Look, Beth-there's barely a bruise and it will be gone by morning. Your kick was really impressive actually- I didn't know you had that in you..." Steve joked. I chortled a teary laugh and hugged him again.

"I have had some time to think about our situation." I announced, wiping my face with my hands and turning to the rest of the group. "I've decided that...I want to participate." I said. Gasps filled the room. "After my kidnapping, I've realized that self-defense is too important not to teach. I want my school to know my story and to learn from it. Tomorrow, I would like to speak to my student body and lead the presentation. I mean, if it's okay with you guys..." I awkwardly added to the end of my declaration.

Thor was the first to reply. "That is a noble decision Beth. You will make us very proud tomorrow; I am sure of it." he said with a grin.

**There's the box!**


	4. The Biggest Sundae They Offer

**Here's the end! I hope you enjoyed this story which kind of turned into a sequel for Torture at the end. Please give me more ideas-y'all have wonderful ones I never would have thought of.**

**Shout out the reader who writes reviews as "Natalie"- you are so kind and I really wish I could PM you to tell you how great you are! **

I wrung my hands nervously in a towel backstage. I could hear indistinguishable chatter from the audience, and it made my stomach churn. We were all gathered behind the curtain, ready to walk on stage at any moment. I took a gulp of water from my bottle, and tugged at the ends of my leggings for the hundredth time, making sure that they were still straight.

Diana, the backstage manager, walked over to our group whilst talking on her headset. "Backstage ready. Lights ready?...Good. Let's get this show on the road!" she said into her mic. Diana turned to us. "We are ready when you are!" she announced.

"Let's do this!" Tony goofily exclaimed. Natasha and Bruce rolled their eyes. My family all began walking towards the edge of the giant red curtain, but I was frozen in place.

Clint walked up to me. He smiled and squeezed my shoulder. "You got this, Beth." he encouraged.

I let out a shaky breath. "Yeah?" I tried to reply confidently, but it sounded more like a question.

Clint chuckled. "Yeah." he nodded, and with that we lined up behind everyone, with me bringing up the rear.

"And...You're on!" Diana instructed, with a point to the audience. Tony lead the way, and soon I was exposed to the loud screams and too-bright lights I remembered from yesterday. But, as soon as I had made it about halfway across the stage, the audience started quieting down rapidly. As in, everybody in the room suddenly hushed as they noticed a seventh-and much smaller-person following their favorite team of superheroes. I swallowed.

I took my seat next to Clint at the end of the row. Now, hundreds of confused whispers filled the auditorium. Tony approached the podium with only a few awkward claps showing their appreciation, instead of the usual deafening roar of the crowd.

"Hello everyone! I can tell that you have noticed somebody new on our stage. Beth will be leading the presentation today, and after what you saw of her skills yesterday, I can tell you that you are in for something good. Beth?" he finished, and gestured for me to take his place.

I set down my water bottle and stepped up to the microphone, pulling it downward. I cleared my throat. "Hi." I awkwardly began, and chuckled to myself. A few people in the audience laughed. I was filled with a little more confidence. "I'm Beth. I'm a junior here, in case you didn't know. I want to tell you a little about an event in my life before we begin. Last semester, I wasn't in school for about a month and a half. I told everybody that I had mono. That...wasn't true."

I heard various murmurs from the crowd. I pressed on. "I had actually been kidnapped." I revealed, and many people gasped. "My connections with the Avengers made me the perfect object of revenge for a sociopath needing a way to get back at my family. I was tortured and beaten for information and kept in a cell with little food and water. I was then injected with the chemical DT-78X. It gave me super-human abilities, but I was under the complete control of the man who tortured me. I was forced to do horrible things, such as spit fire onto the walls and attack my own family. I barely made it out of the ordeal alive." I stopped for a moment, images flooding my mind. My cell, the bathroom window, the needles, the yellow haze. _Joseph._ I breathed deeply, calming the maelstrom of thoughts swirling in my head.

"After having the DT-78X extracted from my brain, I had a long recovery period and suffered from PTSD and depression, along with physically debilitating side effects. It took me nearly a month to get somewhat back to normal. I still have nightmares and occasional panic attacks." I explained, and swallowed the annoying lump in the bottom of my throat.

"I tell you this not to frighten you, but to make you understand. Self-defense is invaluable. If I had known more, I potentially could have prevented my kidnapping and torture. I hope that by the end of this week, you will have learned enough to at least escape an attempted abduction- something I truly wish I had been able to do." I stopped speaking for a moment, simply proud of myself that I had gotten through my speech without suffering a panic attack.

Suddenly, the entire audience stood and gave me a standing ovation. Students were cheering left and right-some even jumping up and down. I laughed in surprise-I didn't think my speech was particularly moving. I held up my hand in an effort to quiet down the auditorium-kind of like Tony did. Silence filled the room. I was in awe.

"Anyway, Today I want to go through some basic self-defense knowledge. Like, how to tell if you are being followed, and what to do if you are. Afterwards, I want to show you a few techniques to escape an attacker's grasp. This does not include roundhouse kicking them in the face..." I joked, and everybody laughed. _I can totally do this. _

I glanced at Steve. He had this smile on that clearly said "I'm gonna get you later for that...". I chuckled.

Diana walked onstage and handed me a microphone to pin to my tank top. I stepped out from behind the podium and walked to the center of the stage. I clasped my hands together. "Let's get started! The first and most important rule of self-defense: Trust your instincts. I cannot stress this enough. If I had trusted my gut that day, I might have found help sooner." I explained.

"Next: It's definitely better to be safe than sorry. If you think somebody is following you, _get help_. Don't feel embarrassed or foolish if it turns out nothing was wrong." I said.

"Now, who would like to be my first volunteer to practice a sequence?" I asked. I peered out into the crowd, and a million hands instantly shot up. I feigned indecision for a moment, and then picked a boy in the middle of row seven. "Row seven, blue shirt. Yeah, you." I said. All of his buddies clapped him on the back and he held up his arms.

He strutted up onto the stage and waved to everyone, completely hamming it up. I rolled my eyes. "Alright. What's your name?" I asked hands on my hips.

"Bryce." he answered confidently, and I swear he puffed out his chest.

"Well Bryce, meet Thor." I said, and my big brother got up from his seat and stood across from Bryce, towering above him by a good few inches. Bryce blanched, his bravado forgotten, and I smirked. "Thor and I are going to teach you how to escape an attack from the front."

Bryce gulped. Thor chuckled. "Do not worry, Midgardian. I shall not hurt you." Thor said with a grin. He raised an eyebrow. "Much."

I laughed along with the rest of the audience.

* * *

"Great presentation!" a teacher said as she passed. "Thank you." I replied.

"That was awesome, Beth!" a guy named Tyler told me. "See you in English!" he said and waved.

"I waved back. Thanks, Tyler!" I said, and grinned. This kind of praise had been going on long after our seminar ended. We were outside the auditorium greeting the students and teachers.

I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. Even though I had fully physically recovered from the harrowing events of last semester, they certainly hadn't left my mind. I had bone-chilling nightmares at least twice a week, and they left me shivering and in a cold sweat. My contact with Joseph had also dwindled since school had been kicking both our butts. Stupid SATs. We hadn't Skyped in forever, and it kinda sucked.

As the last few people stopped by to congratulate my family and I on "another wonderful presentation", I spotted a familiar mop of brown hair floating through the throngs of people filling the hallway. _No way._

My heart started pounding. _It can't be._ The brown hair floated closer and closer, and then morphed into a boy with beautiful blue eyes and the brightest smile in the world. Joseph was about ten feet away when he opened his arms wide.

I didn't hesitate. "Joseph!" I shouted and practically took a flying leap into his awaiting embrace, nearly knocking him over. I knew that people were staring, but I didn't care. We hugged for a bit, him tucking my head under his chin.

We broke apart and I looked up at his face. "Have you gotten taller?" I asked, and raised my eyebrows.

"Maybe." Joseph replied with a mischievous grin. "It _has _been a while since we've met in person..."

"Too long." I agreed.

"You are very brave, Beth." he said, his eyes shining with warmth.

I cocked my head. "Why do you say that?" I asked, and blushed a little. _Nobody has ever really called me brave before... _

Joseph grabbed my hand. Electricity shot through me like it did all those months ago. I blushed even harder. "You talked about our experience to your _entire school_. That's an amazing thing. I can still barely talk to my mom about it..." he said, his eyes momentarily clouding with what I was sure were memories of the past. After a split second, Joseph's face brightened again. "You really did a wonderful job up there, Beth. I can tell you're working through this and taking it one day at a time. I'm really proud of you."

I grinned and kissed him on the cheek before pulling him into another hug. "Thank you so much, Joseph. It really means a lot to me that you came." It was his turn to blush.

"Wanna grab some ice-cream? I have an off-period, and Tony's probably buying." I offered.

Joseph smiled. "Sounds great!" he replied. We turned and walked back to my waiting family.

Bruce smiled when he saw Joseph at my side. "Good to see you again!" he said, and shook Joseph's hand.

Natasha squeezed his shoulder. "Glad to see you're still around." she commented with a smirk. "Tony's gonna take us out for ice cream and I know he wouldn't mind paying for yours." she said, and glanced at Tony to remind him that he _definitely _wouldn't mind.

"Of course! Everybody- order the biggest sundaes they have to offer!" Tony announced with an exaggerated flourish of his arms. We laughed down the hallway and out the doors of the PAC.

These presentations aren't _too_ bad, I suppose.


End file.
